REUNION AFTER 44 YEARS

by Celeste Lipow MacLeod

Do friendships made at International House last? The experience
of four former residents from four countries, who met at I-House in
1952-'53, shows that they do. In July, 1997, we gathered in Helsinki,
Finland, for a reunion and did some traveling together.

We were John Conroy from Australia, Basil Hoare from England, Celeste
Lipow MacLeod from USA, and Terttu Puhakka from Finland. Terttu was our
host. It was 44 years since our days at I-House.

The highlight of the trip was a visit to Savonlinna, a town in the
midst of lakes and forests with a sixteenth-century castle, where a music
festival takes place each summer. We saw Mozart's opera, "The Magic
Flute" at the castle and then spent a couple of days enjoying the scenery.
We also took in the sights of Helsinki, and went to other places including
a boat trip across the Baltic to see the old Hanseatic League city of
Tallin, Estonia.

Some of the four had kept in touch throughout the years, and visited
each others countries but Basil and I had not seen one another for 44
years. As an agriculturist, Basil spent much of his career in rural areas
of Africa and India teaching farmers how to improve their crops, so until
retirement he was not easy to find.

Although our four lives had taken different directions, we found the
core of our friendships intact and took up where we left off in 1953.
Perhaps people who choose to live at International House and participate
in the student life there share some characteristics that make for long
associations: a desire to know about more than one country and meet people
from many cultures and an interest in the world that keeps us traveling,
learning, and valuing old friends from abroad long after we have reached
"senior" status.